Awake, for morning in the bowl of night has flung the stone
that puts the stars to flight.
And, lo, has caught the sultan’s turret
In a noose of light!
Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable
– Christopher Howse: ‘A Pilgrim in Spain’
Well, the new laptop battery bought only 2 months ago died on me last night, compelling me to resort to a combination of my old and malfunctioning laptop and my phone for this post. Later this morning, I’ll return to the IT shop in Pv city for the 6th time, where there’ll doubtless be an argument of some sort before I get resolution.
So, no foto of the view from my eyrie today. And possibly for several days.
Cosas de España/Galiza
More here on the priapic ex-king. Who – somewhat ironically – has the title ‘Emeritus’.
Reader María tells me that: Spain’s energy monoliths also base the price of energy on gas prices, even though the majority of energy now comes from renewables. In fact, this hot summer, a few reservoirs were emptied to create cheap hydro electricity, which they sold at extremist gas prices. And were fined pennies for doing so. Heads seldom roll here in Spain.
Noted at the Sunday flea-market in Pv city yesterday:-
1. The (illegal) ‘Gypsy Corner’ is bigger than ever, and
2. Several stalls were offering small bottles of liqueurs, as if one trader had got hold of a shipload and shelled them out to others.
Down in Madrid last week, I did introduce my 3 year old grandson to the game of conkers and he seemed particularly interested in the violent aspect of it. But his attention waned after he’d failed to grasp the technique of hitting my conker with his. So we returned to paper planes.
Oh, yes . . .There were at least 60 fruit flies in the cup of vinegar I’d left out in my kitchen. As all the doors and windows were shut, the only conclusion possible is that they were breeding in my kitchen and hatched because of the unseasonably warm weather.
Italy
Quite a headline: Italy’s senior referee ‘unmasked as a drug boss’, Nicknamed ‘Rambo’, he’s accused of helping to smuggle tonnes of marijuana from Spain and of having threatened to torture his rivals.
Qatar
Sepp Blatter says choosing Qatar to host World Cup was ‘a mistake’, it says here. Better late than never? Not really.
USA
It seem there are few who believe Trump will face up to reality and announce next Tuesday that he won’t stand for President in 2024. As I might have said before, it seems that the only real solution to the problem the Republicans now have – more than ever – is assassination. Which can be blamed on any number of people/organisations. Even the boogie.
Russia
This is a decent article on how things have become there – The Tragedy of Russia.
The Way of the World
This article is entitled How Woke Language Distorts the World.
And this is part 1 of a documentary from the producer cited therein. It has to be seen to be believed.
Social Media
María advises that all her young students (of English) are still avid Instagram users. So, perhaps it’s only the more mature folk who are quitting this platform. And possibly Twitter as well.
Did You Know?
The Sahel is the region that stretches across Africa south of the Sahara. It is staggeringly unstable and now the ‘playground’ of several Islamist terrorist groups. If the problems there aren’t solved, there’s likely to be hundreds of thousands of refugees flooding north over the coming decades. While reading about it yesterday, I noted that traders were bringing slaves from the South and sending them northwards long before the Portuguese were the first Europeans to get involved in this trade in the 15th century. Leaving me with the question of why aren’t apologies and reparations sought from African and Arabian states. Thanks to oil and gas, the latter can certainly afford the reparations demanded of the USA and Western European states. Surely it’s not simply because they’re not white.
For new readers: If you’ve landed here looking for info on Galicia or Pontevedra, try here. If you’re passing through Pontevedra on the Camino, you’ll find a guide to the city there.
Thoughts from Pontevedra, Galicia, Spain 